“Anything that makes capital more expensive right now, what with where interest rates are, where prime is, is a concern for farmers,” said Dave Carey, ACA co-chair.

Carey appeared before the Senate committee for banking, commerce and the economy alongside Cathy Jo Noble, vice president of policy and government relations with National Cattle Feeders Association, one of the ACA’s member organizations.

They asked senators to not support Bill S-243, a private member’s bill introduced by Senator Rosa Galvez in early 2022. The bill proposes to “align the financial sector with climate commitments through various measures,” says a legislative summary of the bill.

This includes reporting requirements, enforcement of commitments to climate targets, additional “capital adequacy” requirements for banks, appointment of someone with “climate expertise” to boards of reporting entities, and “establishment of climate alignment as a superseding duty for directors, officers or administrators of reporting entities.”

Neither senators nor the ACA representatives were able to articulate precisely how the bill would affect farms. However, since the bill makes mention of emissions from land use, and as agriculture is considered an emissions-intense industry, Carey said they were concerned about “unintended consequences.”

“Our concern… is that it may undermine the access to loans that are essential for the growth and sustainability of Canadian agriculture,” Noble said.

ACA is particularly concerned about ballooning red tape. Many business risk management programs funded through the Sustainable Canadian Agriculture Partnership (S-CAP) already have environmental strings attached. Farm Credit Canada has also been rolling out sustainability incentive programs, Carey said.

Noble said the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board is already working on sustainability disclosure standards, which will be aligned with global standards but tailored to Canadian needs. ACA is involved in the consultation process.

They don’t want the bill to move forward in a silo, Noble added.

“It’s the amount of changes happening in the sector at the same time, and the different pieces don’t seem to be in any way harmonized,” Carey said.

Some programs that incentivize farmers’ adoption of more sustainable practices are so cumbersome that farmers must hire accountants or consultants to even apply, Carey said.

“This is just one more thing on the pile that is starting to reach a limit for Canadian farmers,” Noble said.

Senator Galvez, who sponsored the bill, said the bill was actually attempting to harmonize things, not create more confusion.

—Updated April 25, corrects Cathy Jo Noble’s title

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“We are very hopeful that Members of Parliament will continue to show their support for farmers and that they won’t flip flop and change their vote,” said Dave Carey, co-chair of the Agriculture Carbon Alliance.

Bill C-234, which would amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Price Act, was once again the subject of debate as Parliament resumed today. Conservative MP Ben Lobb tabled a motion to essentially reject the Senate’s amendments to the bill.

In an email exchange, Carey explained that if this motion is carried, the amendments made in the Senate would be eliminated. However, the bill would return to the Senate for another reading.

Late last year, the Senate voted to amend Bill C-234 to remove greenhouse and barn heating from the proposed exemptions, and to reduce the bill’s sunset clause to three years from eight. This left only the proposed exemption for fuels used to dry grain.

If the motion passes, Carey said he doubted the Senate would try to amend the bill again.

“That would raise a legitimate question of constitutionality and the role of the Senate,” he said.

When the bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons in March 2023, it did so with support from the NDP, Bloc Quebecois, Conservatives and a few Liberal MPs. Today, alongside Conservative MPs, NDP MP Alistair MacGregor spoke in favour of the motion, as did Liberal MP Kody Blois. Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux spoke against it.

Bloc Quebecois MP Yves Perron, speaking through French translation, said he is is in favour of Bill C-234 but said he was concerned that the bill would be embroiled in a ping-pong match between houses.

He suggested the bill should be passed as-is while it’s in the House’s grasp.

“We have a gain now on the grain drying. I think we should take it,” Perron said in an interview, adding that further work could be done afterward to get an exemption for building heating.

He cited the partisan environment exhibited in the Senate, which included accusations of intimidation during debate around the bill.

“If we send back the bill to the Senate, well, when will it come back?” he said.

Perron said he’s in favour of widespread carbon price exemptions for agriculture because of the need to compete with subsidized farmers in the U.S. and E.U.

The motion did not go to a vote today. Carey said he’s hopeful it could be voted on next Tuesday.

Proponents of Bill C-234 are concerned it will be endlessly delayed and die on the order paper.

“With the carbon price set up to increase this April again, we are urging the Liberals not to delay it and to let it go to a vote as soon as possible,” Carey said.

–Updated Jan. 30. A previous version referred to Yves Perron as leader of the Bloc Quebecois.

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